Five Days in Solemn Hell
by signelchan
Summary: Ninja are meant to be silent. They, after all, are trained for missions where even the slightest utterance of anything could mean death. But in a home setting? Silence is only needed in fights. Or is it?
1. Intro to Silence

_To be forced into silence for a minute or two is nothing but a menial task: ninja are expected to quiet themselves during times of great turmoil or when lives are at stake. But when forced into a lengthened period of silence, a ninja may not respond as well as they would have in a shorter session. They may start to fold under the pressure of not having the freedom to speak, not having the liberty to say what they mean. They slowly begin to lose their minds, and when the invisible rope holding their lips together is loosened, they may say nothing at all, as all that was ever needed to be said has died in the back of their mind._

_This method of self-destruction is very common in war-prone lands, where the ninja are constantly being put into situations where capture is all but a possibility and the threatening glare of enemy eyes is all around. The ninja who endure this torture become distant after their safe return home, never speaking, never showing that something is internally wrong. Families break apart when one of the pillars collapse in on themselves, and this event becomes traumatic for all who ever interacted with the family._

_Silence is called a virtue, something that only the extraordinary can achieve without fail. Ninja are some of those who can do the given task beautifully, but their minds cannot hold up against the pressure for very long..._

The words on the wall were the same as they had been only minutes before, yet she knew they held a different meaning now then when she had looked earlier. Midnight had just passed, and for the next five days, she would be putting herself up against the wisdom of the words. What had started as a silly joke turned into a verbal contract, forcing her to obey the rules it set or else she would be put through real pain.

After all, being quiet for five days wouldn't be that hard. She had done it before when she was younger, but that time it was out of necessity, not order. When she was facing the fact that someone dear to her had died, she had the strength to keep her lips closed, so how hard could it be to do it after she was told to in a play upon what she had spoken only hours before?

The only difference was circumstance, and she knew that all too well. Circumstances changed, and with them, so did the rules of the game.

A sigh escaped, almost followed with words of encouragement, but she stopped herself before she said anything. She was, after all, a ninja trained to be silent when necessary, and she was sure that her challenge wouldn't be ended so quickly.

With another glance at the wall, she sighed again. A door opened behind her; she turned to see the person that she had set the contract with entering the room. Her eyes shifted to the floor, and the person spoke.

"Hello there," he said, and the voice sent shivers down her spine. "I didn't expect to see you in here, looking at the wise things our ancestors said." She, keeping with her silence, did not reply.

"You don't really need to follow through with your silly promise. I can assure you that if you do speak, I will not keep up my side of the deal." Her heart pounded loudly as he continued with: "However, I must say this. If you do choose to continue, you must stay here. Just as a little friendly treatment from one teammate to another."

She looked up at him and mouthed, "You can keep me here all you want, but I will not back down." He chuckled to himself as she glared into his eyes and added. "I mean it, too."

"Sure, you mean it, but you're just a girl with a need to talk. Face it: you won't last a single day in your solemn hell. I guarantee it." He took a glance at the wall. "There is too much at stake for you to do so."She shook her head defiantly. "Oh? You really think you'll survive? Tenten, I know you almost as well as I know myself. There is no way."

* * *

"Five days?" A nod. "Here?" A second nod. "I think he's right, Tennie. You'll lose your mind before you even get to tonight." To that she shook her head, and the person grabbed her hand. "I live with him. I should be able to tell you these things."

The person, Hinata, grinned as the girl squirmed, trying to resist her grasp. "Don't think you can outsmart a Hyuuga," she warned. "We're tricky creatures by nature, and we love to be challenged by people like you. Of course, this isn't my battle to fight." Her head tilted backwards, and she let out a loud laugh, her dark locks cascading down her back. "I'm just here for moral support, I guess."

Tenten rolled her eyes. "Oh, you don't believe me?" Hinata asked, to which the other girl nodded. "Then maybe I should just step out and let my cousin do all the talking on the matter. Wouldn't that just make you happy?"

As there should have been, there was no answer. However, there was a knock on the door to the room in which they were in. "You girls in there?"

"Yeah!" Hinata let go of her and pushed her towards the door. "She's coming out now!" It was a silent second before she whispered, to Tenten: "Go on out there. After all, he's waiting for you."

She groaned and opened the door just a crack. On the other side was him, the man she had made this entire deal with.

"Oh hello there," he said, pulling her out of the room and closing the door behind her. "Welcome to day one of life here." He looked at her and smiled, as she was rolling her eyes again. "You'll love being in my company. Now talk, so we can stop this."

Arrogance took over her mind as she stomped on his foot. "Now, that's not very nice, is it?" he asked, glaring at her. "If you're going to do that, I guess I will not follow through with my end of the bargain."

"Try me," she mouthed. "I dare you."

His eyes, a pure white in color, did not lift their gaze. "Well, I am trying you, so your threats really mean nothing."

She mimed a long, curse-laden tirade, but did not speak. "I'll play nice after you lose this bet, you know. I don't want to hurt such a sweet little girl like you over something so stupid."

"Yeah, well," her lips motioned, "I swear you all are crazy for doing this to me."

"Us all? It was my idea, Tenten. I came up with this whole thing. Including the rules, regulations, and the contract. However, I may have been swayed with the ideas of my cousins and uncle..."

Her jaw dropped. "You can't be serious. Neji..." No words came out, but her lips moved as she tried to silently explain her thoughts.

"I am serious. Have fun living here for the next five days."

* * *

A/N: Figured I should post this now while I remember it. :) My new side project. Hope you like it.

I don't own.

Siggy~


	2. Violence and Silence

She banged her head against the wall next to the words, those unspoken words that were sealing her fate over the course of the five days. There she was, standing in front of them once again, reading them for the second time that day. Her fingers were under the word "virtue," and she shook her other hand at it. Why had she been so stupid as to get into this?

"In here again?" she heard Neji ask from the doorway. "You could just give in now, you know."

Her head hit the wall again. She was thinking about him just watching her, not leaving her alone to be herself, to maybe say a word or two.

"You're certainly a strange one, Tenten. After all, no one else would have been stupid enough to even run their mouth and get into this."

Turning to face him, she let all the mean things she had even wanted to say to him run across her mind. "Are you going to do this the whole time?" she asked in her silent manner.

"Of course I will. You're my virtual slave for the next five days."

"I don't think I've ever hated you more than right now."

He pretended to sniffle. "You think I'm hurt by that? If you hate me, you hate me. If not, good for you. I promise this isn't going to end the way you want it to."

"Hinata was right. You can't outsmart a Hyuuga."

"I don't like you mouthing things at me. Why don't you just let the words fall?"

Her head turned back to the wall and she read it again. Something about him wasn't right. He wasn't the same guy she had interacted with the night before. Then, he had been nice, kind, not sadistic and cruel, everything he wasn't now. "What's wrong with you, making me be quiet?" Her lips hated not telling him what she wanted to. But she couldn't, not with there being more days of this. It was best that she got along with him for the moment.

"There's nothing wrong with me. You just got a bit crazy last night while training, I told you you couldn't shut up, and it was on from there." If there was one thing that he was doing to her at that moment, it was driving her crazy. She wanted to yell at him that he was wrong, that she should get to go home and never enter this house again.

But he was now talking to himself, recounting the exact incident. "You were being rude about something, and it pushed me beyond the point of logic, so I did this. That sounds about right." He stepped forward, she could tell from the sound, and closed the door behind him. "And now you're mine."

_Don't be getting any ideas,_ she thought. When he touched her, and she spun and kicked him straight in the face, she was glad she had even though that in the first place. Watching the blood start to drip from his nose made her grin like she hadn't in years. Silent, yes, but violent?

Maybe she wouldn't suffer so badly. "Serves you right," her lips said, before she reopened the door and left him asking what he had gotten _himself_ into.

* * *

A/N: All people who read my work know I take interesting views on these two. But I think this is the first time there has ever been real violence between them. I hope you enjoyed this little blurp of fic. The rest of the chapters will probably be differently styles, but like I said last chapter, this is a side-project. I'm thinking of it as an experiment.

:D

I don't own any of it.

Siggy


	3. The Silence of Fear

Her foot was covered in blood, she realized, and then the fear of him coming after her and getting payback took over her body, She was stupid for thinking she could hurt a Hyuuga without being killed in return. All her mind was telling her to do was scream and run away, and it was then that she realized exactly how binding the entire situation was.

_I'm so screwed right now, _she thought, _and he's going to kill me. Going to brutally murder me for kicking him in the face and bloodying him up. _Her body was shaking, teeth chattering, and she had the urge to curl into a tiny ball and cry. Instead, she passed out.

When she became conscious again, she was laying in a bed. Her head was throbbing pretty badly, and as she laid there longer, she noticed that someone was laying next to her. Turning to see who, she was shocked to see that it was Hinata.

"Hi there," the woman said, smiling. Tenten mouthed a hello in return. "You get scared easily, don't you? Well, I guess whatever you did to Neji was bad enough for him to kick you in the head. By any chance, do you know how he broke his nose?"

"Actually, that would be why he kicked me. I kicked him first."

Hinata smiled. "Explaining the blood all over you."

"Yeah."

"Just talk, Tennie! I promise I won't tell him. In fact, he's sleeping right now, and if I woke him up, he's slap me."

She thought about it, letting a word or two just slip, but how trustworthy could Hinata be, especially when she could be lying? "No, I'm okay."

"Oh, you're afraid that I'd tell on you, aren't you?" The extremely dark-haired girl sat up. "Tennie, me and him don't quite get along. Whatever happens between me and you stays between me and you. He doesn't get involved."

"But you two are cousins...and Hyuugas are tricky creatures."

"Do you really believe that? How about you stay in here for the rest of the night, and then in the morning, you and Neji can deal with this. You staying silent, of course." She giggled a bit, before jumping up and dashing out of the room.

Tenten sighed and shook her head. _This can't get worse. I broke him._

But apparently the situation could get worse. At midnight, literally the end of the first day, she was pulled out from the room and into the one with the words on the wall, locked in there, and had to stay there until sunrise.

She looked at the words for most of that time, carefully studying how they directly mentioned capture and being watched. In this house, she was the prisoner, and she was being kept pet for the beast. Or so she thought.

When sunrise came, she was greeted with the sight of Neji once again, there to take her away. She noted that her foot had left a bruise across his face, and his nose was slightly crooked. "Ha, looks like I did some damage to you, pretty boy," she said.

"If I could, you'd look even better."

"Too bad. You already got your revenge on me."

He looked at her like she was crazy, and soon it was falling into the same scene that had happened when the kicking began. But this time, when he reached out and touched her, she didn't react by any violent actions. "Something change?" he asked her, as she just stood with his hand on her arm. "Because you aren't attacking me."

"I'm playing nice," she replied, wanting so badly to tell him her exact reason. _And maybe I can play nice enough to get myself out of this mess before I go crazy._

* * *

A/N: Something about this chapter bugs me. Maybe because I don't like writing this kind of thing? I'unno. This story has potential. :)

I own nothing.

Siggy


	4. Silence and the Art of Hitting

It was the second day, wasn't it? She had survived the first day, although not fight-free, and now they were standing together. She wasn't crazy, not yet. And standing there, him holding onto her, looking like her as if he could see her soul, the bane of her existence, she wondered if he knew what she was thinking.

"So," Hinata said, walking into the room, "are you two just going to stand like statues for the rest of the day?" Neither one of them replied, Tenten because she couldn't, in fear of actually speaking, and she was sure that if Neji did, he would have said something that would have made his cousin continue on with whatever she came in the room for.

"I see, silent treatment from both of you."

_Of course from me, idiot. He's in here, and I...I can't do it._

"Obviously, Hinata, we are getting to know each other a bit better." A lie in all aspects. How could he say something like that, knowing full well that she couldn't speak and he already knew too much about her. He had known she was weak against his mind games, right? "But it's not going to well, as she is still being silent."

"I have to be!" she snapped, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Or else you'll do stupid stuff and I'll be in trouble."

He looked at her and smiled. "Of course, my dear. Anything you say will be held against you."

"Your nose is crooked, you know." She backed away and pulled herself from his grasp. "Maybe you should take care of that."

"If you had actually said that, I would have told you to shut up. However, I can't, so I'll forgive you for that one."

Hinata laughed. "You two are so silly. Kind of like two lovers, you know?"

"Don't even dare go there."

"For you, I won't. I'm scared of your freaky foot, Tenten."

How badly she wanted to attack the girl right then! "You better be."

"Enough, enough. Let's get out of here, you two. Better things to do today than standing here and arguing."

* * *

_He's a jerk and I know it. I know she's in on whatever his plan is, and she's only trying to get me to talk to tell him, and effectively get rid of me. Am I her competition or something?_

Tenten yawned as she watched the other two sitting at a table and talking to one another, civilly. She refused to take part, partly because she really was not in the mood to be associating with any of the Hyuugas and partly because she was scared of accidentally speaking.

"Hey! What are you doing just sitting there?" Hinata, standing up, asked. She shook her head and the younger girl sat back down. "You aren't plotting escape or something, are you?" Another head shake, followed by a long, drawn out sigh.

"She's being silent. Like she's supposed to. Don't bother her anymore."

She grinned, although it seemed weird that the person who had forced her into this silence with the intent to make her talk and do...something to her was the one telling his cousin off from talking to her. However, the peace of not being bothered seemed oddly, well, peaceful.

"But, of course, we can talk." She felt something touching her back, and instantaneously swung her hand behind her and smacked somebody in the face. All that came after was a string of curses and something dripping onto her neck. _I can't even go one day without hurting somebody here, can I?_ She turned to see what damage she had done, but the room behind her was empty, only a trail of blood there as whoever it was had ran. Asking herself if she knew who it was, from the corner of her eye she saw Hinata skipping back her way with a mop.

"You're really good at beating him up, Ten. Next time, though, I advise you not to hit him that hard. That's two injuries in two days. He might be dead when this is all said and done."

* * *

A/N: My updates are sporatic, or, as fast as I can figure out how to fix my documents. Sorry this took so long, but wow. :/

I hope you enjoy~ I own nothing, and please review. :D

Siggy


	5. Neglect Equals Silence

The rest of the day went slowly, as if it was just trying to get her to scream out. There was something about this place that seemed to bend time. She sat alone, her hand over her mouth, just in case something came to her and shocked her into speech.

Nothing ever did.

Maybe it was that they were afraid of her getting violent again. They were "pretty" people; why chance ruining the beauty just to make someone lose a bet? It was pointless on their parts. They could just leave her alone like they were, she'd get through the rest of the days, and then they could go on with their lives.

The night passed by. Her body succumbed to some sleep, if only for a few hours. Bright and early the next morning, she wore up, expecting the summons like the day before. Nothing ever came. She never caught a glimpse of Hinata or Neji, and it worried her.

Was the bet now over? Did her accidental violence doom her to this punishment?

_What have I done? _she thought, biting down on her lip, just hard enough so it drew blood. _I'm still stuck here, so what is going on?_

In addition to having no people around, she was being neglected with food. Her other meals had been given, but since the incidents, nothing had been sent to her. As she remembered this, her stomach let off a loud, very unattractive growl.

Her head hurt from all the thinking. She needed to get out, somehow, This time warp she was in was not good for her mental health in the slightest. Her thoughts drifted to sleep once again. When she woke up once more, the room was filled with darkness. Night had come again, and she was still very much alone.

She took to pacing around parts of the house, just to pass the time and keep herself aware of what was going on around her. Her nose picked up a scent that smelled more delicious than anything she had ever smelled before. She _had_ to follow it.

It took her from the wing of the house she had been kept in, through a couple of doors, and into the main hall of the house, where, to her surprise, a plate of cookies was sitting. Out in the open. And she was hungry.

There must have been a catch. She looked high, low, and all around, before walking up to the plate and reaching for a single cookie. Something hit the back of her head, and she fell into complete darkness.

* * *

Her first instinct was to scream, but she couldn't find it in herself to do so. She didn't know where she was, but it smelled like that plate had. It was soft, too, like a very expensive piece of fabric. Then it clicked. She was in a bed.

"Hello there, beautiful," he whispered in her ear. "So glad you could make it." He covered her eyes with his hand, and shoved something in her mouth. It was a cookie. "Sorry about how I got you here, but..."

She tried to stand up, but her legs felt too weak for her to use them. "This is the fourth day, you know. Survive today and tomorrow, and you win!"

_Yes, but what do I win? You've kind of got me in a sticky situation right now._

"I can see it in your eyes. You want to know what happens after this? Well, we decide that when that time comes."

_So now you're reading my mind? Okay, cool. Let me go._

"If you want me to answer that, say it out loud." She spit out the cookie and went to speak, but then remembered that she wasn't supposed to talk and tightly closed her lips. "You're good."

"No, I just know the rules," she mouthed. "And I plan on winning this thing. Even if it means I'm your toy for the next two days."

A twisted smile formed, and he chuckled. "Poor, poor, poor Tenten. So unaware that there's much worse than that to happen. For you, anyway."

* * *

He had finally let her go, and she was trying to run back to the room with the words on the wall. That was the safest place to go, she figured. It was where she was always locked up, so why not head there when there's danger afoot?

Her lack of truly knowing where it was became her downfall. It took close to an hour for her to find it, due to not having a clue as to where it was and because she made a side trip to the hall with the cookies so she could eat something. Her stomach had been growling still and she knew it needed to be satisfied before she dealt with being alone again.

Ironically, when she finally arrived at her destination, there was a tray of food sitting there, and it looked to be real. But was it a trap, like the cookies had been originally?

She took one bite, just to see a note under the plate, folded into a heart. Should she read it? _After I'm done eating, I'll see whatever my captor wants me to know. Bad enough that's he's turned into a raging maniac._

The food was delicious, and she had to eat it quickly because it was just that good. When she got the last few morsels off the plate, she picked up the note and unfolded it carefully. What she discovered in its words was a complete surprise.

* * *

A/N: I cliff'd it. :) That's mainly because the note is pretty darn juicy and I didn't want to overload you guys. Granted, I haven't updated in months. :(

I do not own the characters presented in this fan work. Srsly.

Siggy


	6. The Virtue of Silence

_If you're reading this, you've either eaten or you're suspicious about the food on the tray. I promise it's not poisoned, so eat it if you haven't._

She laughed, because she had contemplated it being tainted when she first saw it. That, or that it was a trap.

_I've written this note for you to explain what my plan has been for this all along, so you can decide whether or not you want to talk or keep your silence. I know my actions earlier were a bit out of the ordinary, but what I did was an attempt to get you to speak before I told you what the consequences were._

_Alas, you were smart enough to keep silent, so I have no choice but to come clean and tell you what my plan all along was. I want you to stay here. No going back to whatever life you lead, other than being mine. _

Her eyes widened as she scanned the rest of the note. It droned on and on about how much he had wanted to trick her into staying, figuring that she would crack easily and talk. She had been shocked to see that, when he had dragged her into his bed, he hadn't been meaning to let her go. He didn't want to see her hurt, though.

_Your violence toward me has been uncalled for, in my opinion, but I can deal with the damages you have inflicted. Those alone should give me the right to keep you here forever, but I am fair and I will let this "contest" finish like planned._

_I'll see you tomorrow._

The note ended there, and she crumpled it up, throwing it at the wall, before covering her head with her hands and crying herself to a shaky sleep.

* * *

When she woke up it felt like morning. The sun was just rising, the sky a flurry of beautiful colors. Her neck hurt from her weird sleeping position, but she shook it off and got up.

There was business to be taken care of.

She ran out of the room, aimlessly looking for wherever someone else would be. If she was going to do this, she was going to end with a bang. Her wandering took her into the kitchen, where the family was eating a large breakfast.

_There's nothing else left to do here,_ she thought, before: "I love you."

Her mouth hadn't opened, though. She hadn't said those words, even though they were the exact ones she was going to use. "Tenten, is that why you're here? You wanted to say that?" She gulped and nodded.

"Wait, wait, _wait._ She's in love with you?" Hinata asked, her head half-cocked to the side. "But I thought that..."

"I do love him!" she blurted out, and for the first time in days the feeling of words spilled across her lips. "I love his hair and his eyes and his crooked nose and everything about him!"

Was it delirium? Had she finally lost her mind? She had spoken words, but, on top of that, declared love for someone that had kidnapped her. "Now make me stay here. I don't care."

He stood up and walked to her side, towering over her. "I take it you read my note carefully? Good."

"What are you going to do to her? Kill her? Make her your slave?" Even in her seat, it was obvious that Hinata was jumping up and down at all of the possibilities. "There's so much you can do to her! She lost! She really did!"

"Quiet!" they both yelled at the same time, before turning to each other.

"Do you really mean that you love me?" he asked, leaving Tenten to look up into his face and smile a very secret smile. "Or is this a ruse?"

"I _think_ I love you. I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty positive that that's it."

He tapped his chin. "What am I going to do with you, my prisoner? Should I kill you?"

"Oh no, you shouldn't. Neji, I think you should go with your heart on what to do with me. After all, it seems like that's what caused all of this." She poked his chest, right where his heart would be. "Fair enough?"

"Quite fair, indeed."

* * *

The spring of that year had been filled with the cold. Summer, blooming romance. Autumn brought heated passion. Winter's presence brought change.

When the cycle restarted itself, the spring didn't have as much cold to it. Rather, it was quite warm sleeping in the arms of love. Seasons continued, and the cold never returned. Silence was not ever present when there was someone to talk to, someone who could listen for hours on end.

And when they traced their fingers over those words on the wall that second spring, they had nothing but the virtue of silence to thank them for where they were.

* * *

A/N: Well, that's it. I found it best to finish it like this, however abrupt it ended up being. Yes, I know it's lame and cheesy. But it fits.

I thank everyone who read this, favorited, alerted, and especially reviewed it. Your kind words made this a lot of fun to write, knowing that there were people who actually liked my strange!verse Neji/Tenten fic.

Toward the end, I started finding it harder and harder to continue, trying to make it to my six-chapter goal. :) But that's the end, and I've got no regrets about anything (which I still don't own, by the way).

Siggy


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